Faculty & Staff | SarasotaDanceAcademy

FACULTY & STAFF

REBECCA BRYAN RAD RTS

Co-Owner/

Artistic Director

Rebecca Bryan is a certified-registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance, one of six in the state of Florida. She has been teaching for over twenty years, owning and directing three schools in Houston, TX, Bradenton, FL and now Sarasota, FL. She has had extensive classical ballet training under the Royal Academy of Dance and the Cecchetti Council of America.

Her keen sense of communication and patience with students and their individual abilities, instills a discipline and eagerness to learn. Her unique method of teaching sparks a love of the arts in students of all ages.

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MEGHAN SINCLAIR

Co-Owner/

Artistic Director

Meghan Sinclair has had 20 years of classical ballet and dance training under master teachers, from all over the world. She was successful in her RAD Major Syllabus Advanced I Exam and has been accepted into the RAD Teaching Certificate Program.

Meghan took her first RAD exam at the age of seven passing with Distinction. She has been in love with the art of expression through movement ever since. Meghan has encompassed the passion of discipline, love of performance and the heart and patience for teaching.

EMILY ARTHUR

Faculty

Emily Arthur is thrilled to be a teacher at Sarasota Dance Academy, and is eager to embark on another exciting season of dance. Emily graduated from the University of South Florida – St. Petersburg, where she earned a degree in history and education with summa cum laude distinction. Previously, Emily has danced with several local schools, where she has accumulated years’ worth of training in classical ballet and en pointe. She enjoys performing, and has had roles in various dance and community theater productions. She has also spent her time as a teaching assistant in several elementary and high school classrooms, where she has worked to infuse the arts with common curriculum. She seeks to foster an environment that is creative, engaging, and thoughtful, and looks forward to working with students of Sarasota Dance Academy as they navigate and explore their education and passion for dance.

KELLY CHRISTIE

Faculty

Kelly Christie began formal dance training in classical ballet and contemporary through her youth with Pofahl Studios and Dance Alive National Ballet, and continued her training in other genres of dance as well as studied theatre, stage management, costume design, and choreography at the University of Florida throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies. Kelly holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Florida, and while working for the Union County School District, Kelly also instituted the school’s first classical dance program and also served as dance team choreographer/instructor.

Kelly enjoys teaching the beautiful art of dance and loves watching her students develop their own passion for this art.

JENNIFER PERRY

Faculty

Jennifer is excited to be training the talented students at Sarasota Dance Academy. Her credits include over 200 performances as Clara in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, over 100 performances in Neil Goldberg’s Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy and in Mark Marino’s off Broadway debut of Mixed Emotions. She has appeared on nationally aired television programs for Univision and ESPN and in commercials for Radio City Productions, Foxwoods and Univision. Jennifer has performed in many corporate industrials including Coca-Cola, Goodyear and Bayer and has taught around the country on the faculty of prestigious dance organizations including Dance Olympus, Dance Educators of America and Florida Dance Masters. She has judged regional and national competitive dance events for On Stage America, Dance USA and others. Jennifer holds a BFA degree in Dance Performance from the University of South Florida (USF) where she was a member of the UDA National Finalist USF SunDolls Dance Team.

JOEY KING

Faculty

Coming soon!

KIERA MANNA

Faculty

Kiera Manna began dancing as a child with Marilyn Budzynski in Pennsylvania. She continued her training with Kristen Olsen Potts at the West Coast Conservatory of Ballet in southern California. She studied Modern dance at Golden West College with Nannette Brodie. Kiera performed and toured with companies throughout the west including the Orange County Regional Ballet (Ballet Unlimited), Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Santa Clara Ballet, Boulder Ballet, and Rocky Mountain Ballet.

Kiera is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Kiera has been teaching ballet to children for 19 years in UT, NC and FL. She is also a certified yoga instructor and an has experience as Assistant Teacher in Montessori and Waldorf schools.

HOPE MISENHEIMER

Faculty

Hope was 2 years old when her dance career started with ballet and tap. Followed closely by Hip-Hop, Jazz, and contemporary in elementary. She joined her first competition team the 7th grade, which led her to the elite competition team in high school which encouraged her to add pointe and clogging to her repertoire. She also became interested in acro during this time. In a addition to studio dance she performed with her high school drill team, serving as Lieutenant her senior year. Her love for teaching dance began when she was an assistant teacher for Keri’s Dance Factory. She says her favorite thing about teaching is sharing her passion and love for dance with younger generations of dancers.

SARA METZLER

Faculty

bio coming soon!

DINA TIGELEIRO

Faculty

Dina Tigeleiro is a versatile Instructor and Choreographer, with over ten years of teaching experience. She is certified in Acrobatic Arts 1, 2, and Adjudication, and she has multiple Ballet Certifications through Progressing Ballet Technique, and Florida Dance Masters. She is eager to share her philosophy and creativity with the dancers at Sarasota Dance Academy.

Dina emphasizes the importance of technique and how to translate that into expressive movement. She is always striving to expand her knowledge and training, so that she may offer the best instruction to her students. Her goal is to inspire and develop powerful, expressive dancers who share the love and dedication for this beautiful art-form.

SHERI FERDINANDT

Office Manager

Sheri Ferdinandt has over 15 years’ experience as an administrator at dance and gymnastics facilities throughout Florida. She has always been drawn to the creative process and has a degree in Commercial Art. Sheri loves watching the smiling faces when the dancers walk in the door and developing lasting relationships with the students and parents.

RUBIE GAUDETTE

Guest Faculty

Rubie is an athletic trainer at IMG Academy where she works with the varsity and national football programs. Rubie began dance at a young age at the Turning Point Dance Center in Biddeford Maine. She grew up on performance and competition teams at TTPDC and danced for her high school’s dance company, where she first started choreographing for school performances. After high school Rubie joined the modern dance company, Collective Motion. She attended the University of Southern Maine, graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Athletic Training to go on to Western Michigan University, obtaining a Masters of Science in Athletic Training. While in college she not only danced and choreographed for Collective Motion, she was also a member of the Lady Red Claws and a Portland Pirates Ice Girl. Dance has always been an important part of her life and she couldn’t be happier to share her love for it.